Bitcoin slides 30% as Nasdaq wins SEC nod

The Securities and Exchange Commission approved Nasdaq PHLX’s proposal to list Nasdaq Bitcoin Index options on May 22, adding a new regulated bitcoin-linked derivatives product to U.S. markets. The approval came as bitcoin traded near $77,787 on Bitcoin Pizza Day 2026, about 29.7% below the price on the same anniversary a year earlier. (sec.gov) Crypto-linked stocks also fell on May 22, with Coinbase, Strategy and Robinhood lagging a broader Wall Street rally even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a fresh intraday record. (finance.yahoo.com) The juxtaposition is the story: market infrastructure is still expanding while the underlying asset and related equities remain under pressure. (sec.gov) The SEC order allows Nasdaq to move ahead with a cash-settled, European-style index options product tied to bitcoin, but it does not change the fact that bitcoin has fallen materially from both last year’s Pizza Day level and its record high. ### What exactly did the SEC approve? The SEC on May 22 granted accelerated approval to a proposed rule change, as modified by Amendment No. 1, for Nasdaq PHLX to list and trade Nasdaq Bitcoin Index Options. The agency’s order is filed under SR-Phlx-2025-50 and says the product will be based on the CME CF Bitcoin Real Time Index, with final settlement tied to the CME CF Cryptocurrency Reference Rate — New York Variant. (sec.gov) The contracts are structured as cash-settled and European-style, meaning they settle in dollars and can be exercised only at expiration. That puts them closer to standard index-option mechanics than to products requiring delivery of bitcoin itself. (sec.gov) ### Why does Bitcoin Pizza Day keep showing up in this story? Bitcoin Pizza Day falls on May 22 and marks the 2010 purchase in which 10,000 bitcoin were used to buy two pizzas. In 2026, that same 10,000-BTC stack was worth about $777.87 million, down from more than $1.1 billion a year earlier, according to reports carried by Yahoo Finance from BeInCrypto and by Grafa. (sec.gov) The year-on-year drop was about $328 million. Bitcoin’s price near $77,787 on the anniversary was also about 38% below the token’s October record of roughly $126,000, according to the Yahoo Finance report. (sec.gov) ### If the SEC approved a new product, why were crypto stocks falling? Crypto-linked equities dropped on May 22 even as broader U.S. stocks advanced. Crypto Times reported that Coinbase, Strategy and Robinhood traded lower while the Dow set a fresh intraday record above 50,700. Other market coverage tied the weakness to bitcoin’s decline and investor caution around the sector. (finance.yahoo.com) MSN, citing Barron’s, said Coinbase and other crypto stocks were falling amid negative headlines around bitcoin and broader market concerns. ### What does this product add that investors did not already have? Bloomberg and other reports said the Nasdaq product gives U.S. equities traders another way to take positions on bitcoin beyond options tied to spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds such as the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF. Because the new contracts are index options, they offer exposure through a regulated exchange format without requiring direct ownership of bitcoin. (cryptotimes.io) The SEC filing shows Nasdaq and the exchange framed the product as consistent with existing index-options rules rather than as a new spot-crypto trading venue. That distinction has mattered in previous SEC reviews of crypto-linked products. (msn.com) ### What happens next? The SEC’s May 22 order clears the rule change, but trading does not begin automatically on the same day. Simply Wall St, citing the approval, said additional regulatory and exchange launch steps are still required before the contracts start trading. (bloomberg.com) The next concrete milestone is the market launch by Nasdaq PHLX under the approved filing SR-Phlx-2025-50. Until then, bitcoin’s spot price and the performance of companies such as Coinbase, Strategy and Robinhood will remain the clearest live indicators of whether institutional product expansion is translating into stronger market demand. (sec.gov) (simplywall.st)